The Greatest Holiday Film of the Past 30 Years Is...

Gremlins. Didn't see that coming, did you?
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 10, 2011 10:22 AM CST
The Greatest Holiday Film of the Past 30 Years Is...
Peter Jones poses with models from the 1980's hit 'Gremlins' at a the filming of a BT advertising campaign on April 30, 2008 in London, England.   (Getty Images)

Try to come up with a modern holiday classic and you'll probably think of films like Elf or The Nightmare Before Christmas. But, no, it's actually Gremlins that claims the top spot in the Atlantic's analysis of the greatest modern holiday films. The magazine looked at both reviews and box office rankings for movies released within the past 30 years to come up with its ranking of the top 30:

  1. Gremlins: Lest you've forgotten, Christmas is a pretty major plot point, as the main character receives Gizmo as the "perfect" gift. Of course, we all know how that turns out…
  2. The Santa Clause: Not only does the first flick in the Tim Allen franchise snag the second spot on this holiday-specific list—the entire trilogy made so much money, it also scored a spot on the Atlantic's list of the greatest movie franchises ever.
  3. Elf: The beloved movie starring Will Ferrell has since spawned a Broadway musical.
  4. The Nightmare Before Christmas: Despite coming in No. 4 overall, the Tim Burton stop-motion film is actually the best-reviewed on the list.
  5. Home Alone: Macaulay Culkin and his wacky hijinks earned more than $500 million when adjusted for inflation, making it the highest-grossing film on the list.
Click for the entire list, or check out nine really, really bad Christmas movies—and yes, there is some overlap between the two lists... (More holidays stories.)

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